Ebola outbreak brings global attention to tobacco plant-based drugs

A tobacco flower waves in a dew-covered field outside Rolesville, N.C., on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. Researchers are using a relative of this smoking leaf to grow medicines for the flu and even, perhaps, ebola. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)Image 1 of 4 · Next Image…

It's an eye-catching angle in the story of an experimental treatment for Ebola: The drug comes from tobacco plants that were turned into living pharmaceutical factories. And one of the emerging players is Medicago, which operates a production facility in RTP....